Bear Valley Bikes Reigns Supreme At Rim Nordic

Team Bear Valley Bikes continued our reign of the Rim Nordic mountain bike series in 2017, winning our 12th team title of the local event. Team director Derek Hermon noted, the trails were in perfect condition and unbelievably fun. We had racers competing throughout the categories, with wins for John King, Beginner 70+, Mark Blakeslee, Expert 65+ and Mark Gabot, Expert 30-39, earning each of them 1st place overall in their categories for the series. In the Junior Beginner men, 15-18, Lance Hill placed 3rd on the day, but this was enough to put him 1st overall in the series. Ken Ridley came in 2nd at the finals and even though he missed the first race in the series, this final result combined with race number 2 put him in 2nd place overall. The mens open single speed was a tough category this year with a large field competing. Veece Price and Raulie Tarango worked hard throughout the series though, ending up 2nd and 3rd overall.

The Pro Mens Category was also noticeably large, having 22 competitors listed in the overalls! Alfred Pacheco set a fast pace from the start, making it a tough day for the pro men. Stuart Gonzalez worked as hard as he could to maintain this pace for the three laps, prevailing to finish in a well earned 6th place. Samuel Brehm was hoping for a good result to help with the overalls. It's always a fine line at this level of racing though and pushing the limit in a corner, he burped his tire during the first lap leaving him with incredibly low pressure for the rest of the race. This being said, Samuel persevered and finished 9th which kept him in a respectable 3rd place in the overalls! Stuart's 6th place result put him into 5th place overall. We are extremely proud to have Samuel and Stuart in the top 5 Pro Men in such a huge field!

Derek is incredibly proud of the teams achievements and to be a part of this long standing race series. He commented "It was absolutely an honor and a pleasure to be apart of our 12th Team Championship at Rim Nordic. This year was an amazing season. Huge thanks to all the Bear Valley Bikes riders and Rim Nordic staff who helped put on such an amazing event". To see the race results click here.

Team Bear Valley Bikes Takes The Win at the kenda Cup Finals 2017!

The Kenda Cup 2017 came to a finale in Big Bear last weekend. This is one of the team's favorite series and everyone always looks forward to the final race on our home turf. The team finished the series with the overall win for Pro/Cat1 Coed team. Team Captain Derek Hermon may not have had the race he wanted, but still held on to 2nd place in the Pro Mens overall series, with Samuel Brehm close behind with a 5th place overall finish. Christine Ringo and Sandy Blakeslee-Grimes both came away with the overall win in the Pro and Cat 1 women's categories. Joining Christine for a clean sweep in the Pro womens overall series were Alyssa Ringo and Amanda Felder in 2nd and 3rd place. Janet and Shaun Devlin were amazing as always, finishing the series with an overall win in the Tandem category and Shelby Kawell and Mark Blakeslee both raced well in the finals to finish in 2nd place overall in their categories. Visit www.teambigbear.com to see the full list of results. Bear Valley Bikes would like to congratulate and thank everyone who raced for us this year in the Kenda Cup, we are already looking forward to next year!

KENDA CUP # 5 - Big Bear Lake

Team Bear Valley Bikes warming up for the race

Team Bear Valley Bikes has been out racing almost weekly this year, finishing up the Fontana winter series, attending the Kenda Cup races, the Over the hump series and starting out the Rim Norcic series, but the Kenda Cup on their home turf was the one they've been waiting for! The energy was high during the team warm up with plenty of smiles and excitement to race.

Former team mate Alfred Pacheco rode a strong race to take the win in the Pro Mens category. New team member Chad Hall stuck to his wheel though, achieving a 2nd place finish. Samuel Brehm did not anticipate the early break from Pacheco and Hall and couldn't manage to close the gap, but instead lead the pursuing pack, finishing in 3rd place. Derek Hermon knew what he needed to do to hold on to the lead in the overall series and he did just that. He fought hard and with the advantage of his home trails, battled through into 6th place. The pro Womens race was a battle between team mates and sisters, Christine and Alyssa Ringo, ending with Christine on top of the podium and Alyssa in a close 2nd.

Brother and sister duo, Mark Blakeslee and Sandy Grimes, both raced well, winng their age groups in the Cat 1 division. Mark was happy with his win and commented "I thought I would be slowing down at 66, I actually improved my time on the course from last year; I sure like the downhill sections of the trails better than the hills". Shelby Kawell rode a close race in the Cat 2 Womens 19-29 division, finishing in 2nd place by a matter of seconds! Tracy Dowty stormed the Womens Cat 3 division, finishing over 11 minutes ahead of her competitors. It was an amazing weekend for Team Bear Valley Bikes with lots of fun with both team mates and friends. Great job everyone!

SoCal Endurance #2 - 4 & 8 Hours of Bonelli

Derek pushing hard for a well earned 2nd place finish at Bonelli last weekend

Last weekend was race #2 in the SoCal Endurance Series held at Bonelli Park in San Dimas. The day was not going very smoothly for Derek Hermon, who was set to compete in the 4 hour Elite Mens event. A series of mishaps and lack of sleep caused delays resulting in no time to warm up. Then, Derek's glasses snapped right before the race began! With a fresh pair of sunglasses provided by Eric Bostrom and fueled by Klatch Geisha natural coffee, Derek made the start line to give it his best shot. Derek managed to get on Tinker's wheel early on, but then was plagued by disaster yet again as Tinker crashed right ahead of him. Forging on, Derek completed 8 laps of a 6 mile loop with 800 feet of elevation gain per lap. During the last lap the temperatures were pushing into the 90's. Despite taking on as much fluids as possible Derek began to suffer from the heat. Holding on until the end of the lap, he managed to complete 8 laps total in a time of 3 hours and 42 minutes, putting him in an outstanding position finishing in 2nd place!

The team will be racing again this weekend in Fontana. This will be race #6 in the KMC Winter Series held at Southridge Park. For more info visit: ​http://southridgeusa.com/.

Thanks to Ben Goyette for this awesome video below, of Derek on his way to 2nd place in the Mens 4 hour Solo Elite Category at Bonelli Park, San Dimas.

Kenda Cup #1 - Vail Lake

The weather was looking ominous in Temecula for the first Kenda Cup race of 2017, but the team lucked out and the weather held good for an amazing weekend of racing at Vail Lake. We had a great crew out representing Team Bear Valley Bikes. All the pros; Jullien, Jean-Louis, Derek, Stuart, Christine, Alyssa and Amanda came out and got some great results in a large field of 16+ riders. Stuart Gonzales took forth in the Open Mens Endurance race and brothers Julien and Jean-Louis Bourdevaire came 4th and 8th in the Mens Pro Category. In the Pro womens race, Christine 'Jonny' Ringo was on top of the podium again, followed by Alyssa in 4th and Amanda Felder in 5th.

​Backing the pro team up in Cat 1 we had Sandy Blakeslee-Grimes, Dave Lippert, Scott McCosh and Ken Ridley representing the team. Sandy came in 1st place in the Womens 50+, Dave and Scott raced to 5th and 9th in a strong group of men aged 45-49 and Ken placed 6th in the mens 60-65 category. In Cat 2 Shelby Kawell raced well and earned 3rd place on the podium. Overall we had a great time and the day was full of fun and smiles. The team can't wait to get back out there at Southridge this weekend for the KMC Winter Series, and is looking forward to Kenda Cup #2 at Fontana on April 1st.​

2017 brings new alliances for team bear valley bikes

We would like to announce our official alliance with Ridebiker for the 2017 season! Ridebiker is a group of like-minded cyclists working together to influence and change the sport and industry that we love. We support Ridebiker in working to continue to grow cycling in the US and in creating a sustainable program to do good deeds in the name of cycling. Ridebiker accomplished some great things in 2016. They assisted in funding the US National Mountain Bike Team's World Championship campaign and also achieved equal payouts for the US Cup. We are looking forward to being a part of this project and will have our very own Ridebiker/Bear Valley Bikes custom Team clothing coming very soon! Find out more at ​http://www.ridebiker.com/​

Derek has been testing new tires for Kenda and considers the Saber Pro to be the best tire currently on the market for racing cross country. The release of this advertisement featuring Derek racing with the Saber Pro coincides with our announcement that the team will be using Kenda Tires throughout the 2017 season. The new Saber Pro features low rolling resistance ,amazing grip, and a lightweight low profile tread design. At 529 grams this is one of the lightest xc tires on the market!

Wren Sports, is a sales, marketing, product development and sourcing company with extensive experience in the Bicycle industry. They work to develop and manufacture cutting edge parts and accessories and the team can't wait to get them on their bikes! We will be using their Super Lightweight Alloy Stems and their 310 Series Carbon MTB Handlebars on our bikes for the 2017 season.

team bear valley bikes continues to dominate at the southridge winter series

While most of SoCal was getting hammered by a gnarly set of storms, bringing both rain and snow, it was time for race #2 in the Southridge Winter series for Team BVB at Fontana. Saturday provided a brief reprieve in the weather with the sun shining through in time for the race. The team yet again had a strong presence in the men's, women's and vet pro categories, dominating in each. In the Pro men, brothers Julien and Jean-Louis Bourdevaire took both 2nd and 4th place. In the Pro women's, it was an in-house battle between our three pro female teammates, resulting in the win from Christine 'Johny' Ringo, with Alyssa Ringo in 2nd and Amanda Felder taking the 3rd spot on the podium. Stuart Gonzalez took the top of the Vet Pro podium, closely followed by Derek Hermon in 3rd. Race #3 in the Series is this weekend at Southridge Park in Fontana. The question is, will anyone show up who can challenge the performance of team Bear Valley Bikes so far? Or will the team continue in it's domination of the Southridge Winter Series? For more info on this race series visit www.southridgeusa.com. See the race results for the series so far at southridgeusa.com/xc-results-1-21-17. Photo's thanks to Linda Ringo & PBCreative.

40% off mdrive!

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Right now you can try Mdrive at a 40% discount using Derek's promo code DHERMON40. You can go to Mdrivesport.com and enter the code at check out.

​Team Bear Valley Bikes Storms 1st Race of 2017!

Team Bear Valley Bikes started out the year racing the Southridge KMC Winter Series at Fontana last weekend. The course was fast, technical and a lot of fun. The team dominated in the Men's, Women's and Vet Pro classes.

In the pro men's race, Julien Bourdevaire battled for the win. Team mate Jean-Louis Bourdevaire finished not too far behind the lead in 3rd place. Bear Valley Bikes was also on top of the Vet Pro podium with a win for Stuart Gonzalez with Team owner and director Derek Hermon backing him up in 3rd.

Christine 'Johny' Ringo debuted her XC career for BVB with an impressive performance, sticking with the pro men and finishing an impressive 6 minutes ahead of the other Pro women. Alyssa Ringo finished in a strong 2nd place with Amanda Felder in a close 5th place finish.

KENDA CUP WEST #1 AT VAIL LAKE

Our numbers are always down early on. Many of our team members show up later on for the local races in Big Bear Lake. This means that we need to have everyone who shows up early on scoring points. Based on the showing we had today, I think we will definitely be in contention for the title again. - Team Owner, Derek Hermon

This weekend was the opening race of the Kenda Cup West series which took place in beautiful Vail Lake, CA. Some of the team members showed up on Saturday and enjoyed the beautiful weather out on the course. With a difficult feature, it was a great opportunity to practice before the race the next day. Team owner Derek Hermon debuted the new Bear Valley Bikes/Speed Evolution/Grizzly 100 trailer that will be the team headquarters at all of the races. He set up a Speed Evolution booth outside of the trailer and spent most of Saturday talking to riders about his products. Also, Bear Valley Bikes raced in the new speed suits from Voler. Not only do they look slick but they are very aerodynamic!

Sunday saw different weather. A storm came in and brought a heavy rain and strong winds early on. Junior rider Mitchell Dann started the day out strong for Bear Valley Bikes with a stellar performance and finished 2nd in the 13-14 year old group! The endurance race was a replay of last year’s nasty conditions but that didn’t stop Pro Stuart Gonzalez from giving it everything! Stuart went out hard and was leading the Pro race for the first couple of laps. With the cold weather and excitement, Stuart did not fuel as well as he needed to and had to deal with bonking in the last lap. Derek Hermon and Nikki Peterson were in the feed zone with water and Stuart’s favorite, Honey Stinger gels, to bring him back to life. He ended up fighting hard and still was able to finish in 2nd place in the Pro Endurance division. Great job, Stuart!

The sun decided to come out for the XC races, and so did the wind. All of the fire roads had a significant headwind but that also meant that the fun, flowy descents were even more fun with a tailwind. Many team members chose to ride in their Specialized Evade helmets because of this. Team Bear Valley Bikes decided to start out the series with a bang by having numerous podiums in the Expert and Pro divisions. Mark Blakeslee had a great start to his season by placing 2nd in the 65-69 Expert Men’s class. Blakeslee was a major contributor for Bear Valley Bikes in their Kenda Cup West Pro/Expert win and he looks to be back just as strong! With a fat bike from Bear Valley Bikes, he has been able to ride year round which will help him out greatly.

In the Pro Men’s race, Keegan Swenson took off from the beginning which left a group of men battling each other while also trying to catch up to him. Bear Valley Bikes rider Alfred Pacheco decided to set the stage for this race and put in much of the work in trying to catch up to Keegan. Teammates, competitors, and fans all mentioned how amazed they were with Alfred’s ability to set the pace for the chase group. Alfred has only raced in a Bear Valley Bikes kit for two races but he is already showing an amazing amount of potential for the team! After the race, Alfred said “I was fighting the whole race for second place but in the last lap I made a little mistake which cost me the battle for the second spot. I ended up finishing in a solid 4th place and I'm happy with my race.”

Jules Bourdevaire hopped onto Alfred’s pain train and was able to pull away from the pack at the end of the race to take 2nd in a very smart, strategic race. Jean-Louis Bourdevaire stayed with the chase pack for most of the race and finished just off of the group in 10th place. John Nobil, who has been backcountry skiing all winter, showed his strength from cross training with a solid 12th place finish. Nobil raced an even-paced race and came on strong at the end. He will be back climbing with the leaders in no time at all once he gets back to training on the bike! Team owner Derek Hermon fought hard on the course and came across the finish line in 14th. Last year he made the podium for the series and he is looking to do the same in 2016!

Nikki Peterson finished her first Kenda Cup Pro Women’s race in 3rd place. This season is certainly going to test her as she has some fierce competition among the local Pro Women in Southern California. Since this is her first season as a Pro and only her second season ever, this season will be all about learning!

We have not seen the official team results after the first round but Derek Hermon is very optimistic after the first race. “Our numbers are always down early on. Many of our team members show up later on for the local races in Big Bear Lake. Based on the showing we had today, I think we will definitely be in contention for the title again.”

​CROSS COUNTRY/ENDURANCE/ROAD/CYCLOCROSS

We are excited to announce our 2016 Pro Team!

OUR SPONSORS

Derek Hermon has been with Bear Valley Bikes since the shop and team's beginning. Working as a mechanic while training full-time for races, Derek has been a supporter of the sport for over 20 years.

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If you are interested in joining the fun, please contact Derek Hermon at bearvalleybikes@gmail.com.Whether you want to race, join us on fun group rides, or help out at local events, we would love for you to join our family!